Assistive Technology by Content Area

Developed at the Centre for Literacy and Disability Studies (CLDS), and written about by Hanser (2006, 2009), an alternative pencil is defined as anything that provides a student with access to all 26 letters of the alphabet for use in writing. Students DO NOT need to know how to independently read or spell words in order to use any of the alternative pencils.

Apps, tools, and assistive technologies included in this matrix support foundational math skills, as well as more complex math skills in areas such as Algebra, Geometry, word problems, fractions, math drills, and more.

One of the greatest benefits of audiobooks is that they can motivate struggling readers. When kids aren’t reading at grade level, they might not yet be reading the same books as their classmates and friends. As a result, kids like your child might feel really frustrated.

When kids listen to those books, it can make them more engaged and motivated. And that can keep frustration from taking over. At this age, it’s important to develop a love of books. Kids need to be willing to become better readers for their skills to improve.

It’s important to find books that hold kids’ interest. Check out suggestions for kids this age. You can also look into where to find free audiobooks.

Bitsboard iOS application includes dozens of highly engaging mini-games for all ages. It enables teachers to create your own lessons, track user progress, and share everything online to your students.

Symbol-supported thematic units to download and print for free!

Boardmaker Online is a complete system for delivering personalized instruction and therapy while also measuring student progress. Boardmaker Online is a web based subscription that allows you to create and assign activities, to access shared activities in the community, create and edit activities, assign activities to students to make learning and communicating accessible ,and tracks performance.

Calm lowers stress and anxiety through guided meditations, breathing programs, stretching exercises, and relaxing music . This app can be recommended by your assistive technology facilitator or can be added for free to a personal device.

Create, edit and play personalised learning materials that can be used in your classroom and with individual students securely online and then download them to your iPad or Android tablet!

Select to Speak Chrome allows you choose text and/or other items on the screen and have them read aloud using the in-built screen reader technology.

Clicker 8 is a reading, vocabulary, writing, and expressive communication customizable tool with features including matching activities, books with audio support, word prediction, picture support, word banks, highlighting, text to speech, cloze activities, and writing grids for literacy and speaking development.

Clicker Writer helps students achieve writing success by providing realistic speech feedback, talking spell checker, audio note recorder, and intelligent word prediction tool. Word banks, sentence writing frames, and ready made writing grids provide scaffolding to support each learner's writing process.

Clicker Connect provides students with clusters of words, phrases, and/or pictures to help them build a coherent piece of text. Students simply click and it adds the word to their document. This is now part of the Clicker Writer app for Chromebooks and iPads, and the new Clicker 8 program available for laptops.

Clicker Docs provides word prediction as well as tabbed vocabulary support. Students simply click and it adds the word to their document. This is now part of the Clicker Writer app for Chromebooks and iPads, and the new Clicker 8 program available for laptops.

In Clicker Sentences each sentence grid contains all the words required to build a sentence. Students tap each word to create the sentence in their document. This is now part of the Clicker Writer app for Chromebooks and iPads, and the new Clicker 8 program available for laptops.

Co:Writer helps give you the words and phrases you’re intending as you type—even if your grammar and spelling are way off. Just type a letter or two and Co:Writer “predicts” words and phrases in real time. CoWriter is currently available to all students that receive services from Special School District.

Accessible games and activities that cover the essential fields of Cause & Effect, Basic skills, Math, Speech & Language, timing, and Language Arts.

A flexible difficulty level setting system within the games, allows teachers and parents to adapt the activities to the user’s progress and abilities.

Over 100 accessible learning activities which cater for a wide range of users with severe and complex needs, learning disabilities.

Ideal for children with a wide range of special educational needs and learning difficulties at a pre-literacy or early literacy level. It is also suitable for early years users.

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This program teaches children how to identify and change how alert they feel, initially using the analogy of an engine. Students identify their bodies as high, low, or just right. Strategies are taught to assist students in getting to that "just right" or "ready to learn" zone. This program is available in the IRC for checkout.

The iPad and the iPhone can speak selected text or the entire screen. iPhone can also provide feedback and speak text corrections and suggestions as you type.

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A comprehensive curriculum that is accessible to unique learners. This curriculum program incorporates symbol-supported text tools. Contact your Area Coordinator for more information.

Pixwriter by Attainment helps students to write independently with illustrated word banks. The software and iOS application provide symbol support with highlighted text and speech.

Includes 10,500 pictures that automatically match to words

A Google Chrome extension that works with web pages and common file types in Google Drive and features simplifying and summarizing text, vocabulary lists, highlighting and collecting highlights, speech to text, text to speech, word prediction, and embedded picture and text dictionaries.

Activities cover a wide variety of topics including Numeracy, Literacy and Science. Each activity supports the objectives found in curriculum standards making it easy to find the right skills to practice to meet your learning goals! New activities are added on a regular basis.

Shared reading is an evidence-based intervention that can help improve language, communication, and interaction skills while building understanding of print concepts. During shared reading, adults focus on maximizing interact page-by-page while working toward helping students lead the interaction.

An online reading tool with text to speech support for both accessible and inaccessible text, dynamic text leveling, translation, annotation and study tools. SSD provides unlimited student usage through a district-wide license available in iOS and Chrome platforms. Snap and Read delivers usage data to teachers who then can more easily assess students’ reading needs individually.

Social Express is a social learning program, designed to teach core social-emotional skills needed to help develop meaningful relationships and successfully navigate our social world. Students watch videos providing different social scenarios and students determine the appropriate social behavior in each scenario. This is a subscription based online program that is checked out to teachers for their students.

Social stories are short individualized stories devised as a tool to help students better understand the nuances of interpersonal communication so that they could interact in an effective and appropriate manner. They can be used to introduce a new environment or activity, review appropriate ways to complete daily activities, assist in problem solving, or discuss changes to a schedule/routine.

Chrome App

A Social Thinking curriculum created for K-5 students. It’s paired with a comic book that introduces the concept of the Team of Unthinkables, characters that represent the different ways our brain has not-so-flexible thinking in social situations. This is part of the Think Social curriculum and can be checked out at the IRC.

"Symbols are useful supports across environments to cross language barriers, provide additional context for conveying meaning, or to close gaps concerning experience or culture. Symbols help students develop as communicators and readers empowering them to understand information, voice opinions and make choices. When carefully selected to have meaning and relevance, symbols are assistive" by Anne Johnson-Oliss

The Time Timer displays the passage of time with a disappearing red disk. This is a powerful tool for visual thinkers of all ages and abilities. It comes in different sizes, as well as a watch format, and can be checked out in the IRC.

Emotional self-regulation is the ability to respond to the ongoing demands in a socially appropriate way. Students learn to recognize the clues their bodies give them by identifying which of the 4 zones they are in and strategies they can use when they are not in a comfort zone.